A concern about Goucher is the low retention rate (below 80%). Losing over 20% of one’s first year classmates is painfully obvious & disheartening at a small LAC ( about 1,434 students total).
^^ but this is a transferring student, so at his own school he is one of the ‘not retained’ students. Hard to criticize another school for not retaining its students.
No need to jump from frying pan into the fire.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland does award merit scholarship money to incoming transfers. St. Mary’s has the feel of a summer camp according to another poster who has visited recently.
P.S. Laughing because I mixed up threads, yet the St. Mary’s advice still applies. St. Mary’s has just over 1500 students (1,516) and is 58% female. Lots of water & sailing, I believe. Your son will love it !
He won’t be coming home every weekend from St. Mary’s, that’s for sure. Gorgeous place but NOT a convenient trip from CT!
I second the suggestions of Elizabethtown (so friendly!) and Muhlenberg, and Ursinus. Not so much F&M or Gettysburg or Dickinson for this student as described.
Possibly also Susquehanna, York?
You might want to have him look at some midwestern LACs. Yes—a little farther afield. Check out: Alma College (MI), Kalamazoo College (MI), Beloit (WI), Earlham (IN), and Knox College (IL). You should have your son visit any schools that interest him, so he can check out the students/campus/academics for himself.
McDaniel, which is 30-40 minutes from Baltimore, may be an option. We liked it for our younger son, but he got into his “dream program” elsewhere. However, his older brother, who had a bad first year experience at a large university and dropped out for a year and a half, just started there this semester. I think the number of undergraduates is in the 1500-2000 range.